New J.J. Abrams Drama Finds Its Female Lead

British ingenue Gugu Mbatha-Raw is going ‘Undercovers’ as the female lead in J.J. Abrams’ new spy series for NBC.

‘Undercovers’ follows Steven and Samantha Bloom, a husband and wife who are both agents for the CIA – “‘Alias’ meets ‘Hart to Hart’” is how some have pegged it. When Boris Kodjoe (‘Soul Food‘) landed the male lead last month, some presumed that the show’s central couple would wind up being an interracial match.

But Angela Bromstad, NBC’s president of prime-time entertainment, told me just the other day that would “not necessarily” be the case.

A production source maintains the castings were color-blind and that ‘Undercovers’ simply went with the best actors available.

When I asked Abrams about the casting of Samantha on Monday night, he was still a half day away from making the final call on who would star as the wife. He did promise, however, that Samantha would be a “fun” piece of casting.